My First Tough Mudder - Western, NY 2015 - Race/Challenge Review

This was my first Tough Mudder (TM).  One of the main reasons for this Summer of OCR in fact.  When I first started OCR (obstacle course racing) the length of the TM course was intimidating for me...not being in particularly great shape and a bit on the aged side.  After running 11 races though, I felt that it was time to see what all the fuss was about...so I did!

Tough Mudder - Western NY certainly delivered on it's name.  It was tough!   And it was muddy!  I mean, with the weather as dry as it was, they must have shipped in mud from somewhere...but that stuff was everywhere.  Right from the first mud crawl (where I immediately, and unknowingly, lost my bib).  From that point on it seemed we were in mud every few minutes (later on I heard that this venue is known as the muddiest course on the TM circuit).

As expected, on any long course, there's going to be a lot of running...or in my case, a lot of jogging and as-fast-as-I-can walking.  But the obstacles were spaced out pretty well so you didn't feel like you'd gone off course somewhere on a 5-mile trail run.  They even found some ways on this rolling, but not hilly, terrain to get in a few real mind-numbing climbs towards the end.  One of the surprises for me were the types of obstacles as well.  

When I first wrote about Tough Mudder vs Spartan Race I knew a major difference between the two was the fact that TM was not a timed event.  A challenge...not a race. Even though I also knew that TM stressed teamwork and cooperation, it wasn't until I was out on the course that I saw how they encouraged it through the obstacles themselves.  

Some of the obstacles are obviously for the individual, but others were all but impossible without the aid of your team.  The log carry...the wounded warrior carry...and especially the iconic Everest.  You really had no choice but to work together.  What was a little unexpected though, was the challenging and entertaining individual obstacles,  The Funky Monkey and whatever that leap to the swinging T-bar bell-ringing thing was called.  That was deceivingly difficult...and a lot of fun!

Not surprisingly, whenever you have tougher obstacles, you have lines!  The bane of OCR.  Even though I don't even remotely challenge for time, I'm always conscious of how I do vs other races and venues.  So when the lines started I was concerned about how it would affect my time.  Then realized...there was no time!  Then the real revelation...did it really matter?!

I started thinking (and there was plenty of time at these bottlenecks for thinking and talking) that the official times weren't all that important.  Don't get me wrong, I still prefer the idea of a race when it comes to the elite and even for the rest of us to compare our progress in the sport.  But the fact is, I know more or less how long I took and I know roughly how long I was in lines.  So, do the math, in essence I knew how well I performed.  I also knew where I still needed work.  TM has also come up with their own way of encouraging repeat runners.  Just like earning belts in karate, you earn different level/color headbands as you do more TM's.  You also become a member of the Mudder Legion.  And if you think that's no big deal...you haven't been at a Tough Mudder.

So, even though I would do another Tough Mudder any time...and should be on Long Island 8/15...I do prefer to have a timed event.  Something BattleFrog might take a lesson from.  Their events are timed, but when you get a free race for volunteering, you don't get a chip (and therefore, not only don't you get a time, you don't even get credit for having run that event).  So in the end, you're actually getting a free BattleFrog 'challenge'....not a free 'race".  This idea of a challenge as opposed to a race also leaves you nowhere to go as a sport.  Getting to that next level is something that the other race promoters are racking their brains about as we speak.

[ps - As a side note, with just the electric shock obstacle to go, I managed to do something not very friendly to my shoulder on the Everest obstacle in this race.  Knowing that Electro Shock is a right-of-passage for the TM (and Arctic Enema I suppose), with some help I managed to get things back in the right place to finish.  After all that, I really wanted my headband...although this will have a serious affect on the following weeks of racing no doubt!]

[pps - Photos?...although I found a couple, I think I had a better chance of finding one with Bigfoot landing his UFO than finding the rest of mine.  An ongoing problem throughout OCR!  Since the first obstacle ripped off my bib and covered my arms (which were marked) with mud I was pretty much out of luck unless I have a spare day or two to weed through them.  I can think of a few things that might help, but whoever solves this one will be well rewarded!]

What have your experiences been with Tough Mudder?

Do you prefer the challenge or the race format?

I'd like to hear what you think!

Volunteering at Tough Mudder

This past week I spent two days volunteering at the Tough Mudder (TM) event in Western NY.  I'm been very curious to see what differences there might be between the various promoters.  Particularly with Tough Mudder.  Partly because I've had no previous experience with them and partly because they are the only major event that isn't actually a race.

The first thing I realized was that during the actual build week, there aren't many volunteers.  In fact, Tuesday there were only two of us...with a third as a no-show.  Wednesday there were several more, but still only around six or seven.  Unlike the massive number of volunteers on the event days, the mid-week numbers are fairly low.

Like the Spartan build I worked on almost exactly two years ago, volunteers generally didn't work on the actual obstacles...they have a special crew for that.  We worked on things like the starting and finishing pens and some other areas in and around the festival location.  I imagine the two or three TM people we worked closest with were those who usually dealt with volunteers.  So they're used to energetic, enthusiastic people who have no idea what they're doing!!

Interestingly, it would also appear that whatever genetic marker is responsible for people that actually enjoy OCR (obstacle course racing) is also the same marker responsible for generating sarcastic, smart-ass remarks...about everything!!

What I also found in common was the unanimous 'love', if you will, for Tough Mudder (TM) and the concept it promotes.  Every volunteer I worked with was a veteran of TM and had run a number of previous events...making them part of the Mudder Legion.  With different color headbands as you progressed through...like you were earning your belts in karate. The interesting part though, was that this love for TM was why so many people are so passionate about other races too, like Spartan Race.

One guy was telling me how he had been around 260 lbs a few years back before trying TM.  Since then he must have easily lost 70-80 lbs and found, like many others (yours truly included), that they couldn't just be satisfied with finishing any more...they wanted to get in better and better shape to improve their performance.  

And once people found out that I follow OCR and write about the different races, most were curious about how they compare.  Many were interested in knowing what these other races were like and whether they were more or less difficult than TM.  Even some TM people were curious.

I think this is yet another indication of the relative infancy of the sport.  Participants have gotten involved with one race or another for all sorts of reasons.  Friends, family, work...casually running across something on the Internet.  And whatever race they start with becomes their go-to race.  Now, people are starting to wonder what else is out there and whether those other races are something they would be interested in doing.  After all, how many times can you really do the same race in the same place?  Something I have asked myself a number of times.

In the end, I suppose that's the purpose of my writing,  To help people see what these races have to offer and provide some info to help them decide what other races might be worthwhile.  And yes, there are definitely differences between races...even between different venues within the same race.  In the end though, what I've found so far is that when you look for the reasons why people are doing OCR, the harder you look, the less difference you really see.